1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tag attacher for use in affixing price tags or the like to articles, or putting a plurality of articles together, with tag pins of a synthetic resin.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A tag pin consists of a head portion, a lateral rod, and a filament connecting the head portion and lateral rod together.
Such a tag pin is formed integrally with a molecule-orientable synthetic resin, such as nylon or polypropylene. The filament of the tag pin is in a stretched state, and formed thin and flexibly.
This tag pin of a synthetic resin, which permits affixing a price tag or the like to an article quickly, has recently been used in large quantities. Each tag pin has extremely small sizes. Therefore, the tag pins are usually manufactured as tag pin assemblies, each of which consists of several tens of tag pins joined to a connecting bar via their respective connecting portions. The tag pins in such a tag pin assembly are usually arranged at intervals of around 2 mm in order that a metal mold for the production thereof can be made conveniently, and in order that the tag pin assembly can be loaded in a tag attacher so as to drive the tag pins one by one into articles conveniently. Such a tag pin assembly is loaded in a tag attacher so as to be driven one by one into articles by a means, which will be described later. In a conventional tag attacher, the teeth of a gear are inserted among the tag pins joined to a connecting bar, and a lever provided on the tag attacher is operated so as to oscillate the gear tooth by tooth and thereby move the tag pins one by one.
A tag pin feed means provided in a conventional tag attacher employs a gear of a fixed pitch. Therefore, the distance between two adjacent tag pins joined in an uprightly extended state to a connecting bar as mentioned above is set to a level in agreement with the pitch of the gear. However, it has become necessary in recent years to reduce or increase the distance between two adjacent tag pins. In fact, when the distance between two adjacent tag pins joined to a connecting bar is reduced, the dimensions of a metal mold for forming tag pin assemblies can be reduced, and the thermal capacity thereof can thereby be reduced. This permits the heat to be used economically, and a metal mold to be manufactured at a lower cost. When the distance between two adjacent tag pins having very long filaments is increased, the filaments can be prevented from being intertwined with one another.
However, the pitch of a gear in a tag pin feed means in a conventional tag attacher is set to a fixed level as mentioned above. Accordingly, when the distance between the tag pins joined to a connecting bar is changed, it naturally disagrees with the pitch of the gear. Therefore, a tag pin assembly, in which the distance between two adjacent tag pins joined to a connecting bar is around 2 mm, can be loaded in a conventional tag attacher, and the tag pins thereof can be driven into articles. However, in a conventional tag attacher, it is impossible to feed such tag pins in a tag pin assembly that are arranged at intervals of greater or smaller than around 2 mm.
A conventional tag attacher has another problem. A conventional tag attacher is provided with a guide slit for loading a tag pin assembly therein. The width of the guide slit is considerably large as compared with the thickness of the connecting bar of a tag pin assembly. Moreover, the connecting bars of tag pin assemblies made by different manufacturers have different thicknesses. Accordingly, when a connecting bar is inserted into the guide slit, the former is moved laterally in the latter to such an extent that is in accordance with the width of the clearance occurring therebetween. Therefore, the connecting bars cannot be fed at a constant rate when a feed means, for example, a feed claw, is used, which is adapted to come into contact with, for example, a side surface of the connecting bar during a connecting bar-feeding operation.